http://www.austinchronicle.com/arts/2014-06-13/ignite-three-works/“Jennifer Hart…in her lovely and passionate “Aria”…uses turning and twisting, and across-the-body movements to accomplish what Rodin accomplished in sculpture: art from all directions...”Aria” is not only inventive, but also heart-rending…it’s more like real life, more like passion, than the bloodless encounters we often see from the second balcony....If ballet has a signature emotion, it’s doomed passion, as in the lift that can fly sky-high but must eventually come to ground and “Aria” mines this mood…The swirling, simultaneously earthy and unearthly beauty of the dance can’t last: when it goes it leaves loss and vision behind.”
-Lightsey Darst, mnartists.org (May 2004)“Jennifer Hart's "Aria," to Vivaldi, was an ardent and grandly scaled depiction of love and abandonment.”
-Jack Anderson, New York TImes (April 2005)“Dracula’s... heart is Jennifer Hart’s sincerely dramatic choreography. Hart’s responsible for the ballet’s key scenes: Dracula’s duet with his first love, Sylveta; a sketch of Jonathan and Mina’s carefree but rather shallow pre-Dracula life; Dracula’s duet with Mina; and finally, the death of Dracula. Through her distinctively three-dimensional classical ballet choreography, Hart creates a simple tale of dangerous tendencies—Dracula’s obsessive and controlling love matched with Mina’s craving for romance.”
-Lightsey Darst, mnartists.org (October 2006)“James Sewell Ballet’s....program includes the premiere of Jennifer Hart’s riveting “Lightspace.” ...The long limbed choreography is accented with daggerlike point work rendering the dancers akin to moving sculpture. Meanwhile, the group’s regimented articulations... is offset by a mysterious Rousse lurking in the shadows. With her untamed hair and crouched movements, she’s a primal force in their midst that they neither notice nor acknowledge.”
-Camille Lefevre, Minneapolis Star-Tribune (April 2007)“Finally, JSB reprises Jennifer Hart’s “Lightspace”, a welcome reminder of the brilliant Ms. Hart, who has since lit out for Texas.”
-Linda Shapiro, City Pages (October 2008)“The enchanted forest of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," ... abounds with fairies, anxious lovers and exotic woodland creatures who ride the currents of Mendelssohn's lush music, plotting and scheming. Hart's sinuous flow of movement meticulously spins dance and drama into a theatrical melange light as gossamer wings, witty as a French farce.”
-Linda Shapiro, St. Paul Pioneer Press (May 2007)“Jennifer Hart's beautifully rendered "A Midsummer Night's Dream" is... vibrant, joyous and eminently accessible. In telling Shakespeare's tale of feuding fairy royalty and the mortals discombobulated by misplaced pixie dust, Hart has drawn clear characterizations through her choreography. Never has an evening of ballet been so much fun.”
-Camille Lefevre, Minneapolis Star Tribune (May 2007)“In Trio for One, by Ballet Austin faculty member Jennifer Hart, Japanese drumming and flute inspired a spare, elegant pas de trois that gently evoked the ceremonial quality of traditional Japanese dance.”
-Margaret Fuhrer, Dance Magazine (March 2009)“Jennifer Hart has shown at Ballet Builders previously This year, her Trio for One, using dancers from Ballet Austin, combined her excellent sense of composition with an imagination so exuberant that one could not be sure how one movement led to the next, or what might come next. And yet it all fit together seamlessly.”
-R. Pisker, TheaterScene.net, (March 2009)“Life on stage reaches its apex in the evening's last performance, Sam Feipel dancing Jennifer Hart's The Lamb. This strenuous and dramatic work, with the dance often taking place at the edge of the harsh music, or the roving lights, or the dancer's ability, takes on -- you guessed it -- the suffering of Christ....above polemic, Hart holds her work beyond simple evangelism -- more Caravaggio, less The Light of the World...you could probably dismiss... Hart... as old-fashioned, out of date. But to do that, you'd have to (a) forget that the postmodern is only one aspect of the contemporary and (b) ignore the intensity of dance and dancer, their restless search for honesty, for a way forward.”
-Lightsey Darst, mnartists.org (July 2010)“Halfway through the program, Ballet Austin II performed "Strange Shadows" by choreographer Jennifer Hart. If it weren't conventionally inappropriate, I'd kiss her on the lips, because here is an example of modern done right. Granted, while part of the beauty of modern dance is that most of it is open to interpretation, there is a difference between innovation within context, and outright disconnect between performer and audience. Utilizing music by Max Richter and the brilliant Phillip Glass, Ms. Hart's choreography was a stunning blend of contemporary movements and classical technique that was fresh without being pompous in its complexity. Sometimes, in an effort to be profound, a choreographer loses their audience with pieces that are so highly overworked (I call them Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink pieces) that they end up looking, not epic, but sloppy. In this case, less was more. Executed under a dark motif with the presence of a single spotlight, this was one of the rare times where the relationships in a co-ed modern piece didn't feel canned or disingenuous... Having scratched my eyes out over bland, even ridiculous, modern pieces in the past, "Strange Shadows" was salve to restore my vision.”
-Bethany Adams, fourthwalldance.com (May 2011)